Technology

I own an old iPhone 3G. I don't use it much anymore, but I decided that it was time to unlock the phone so I could use it for things like international travel or just a nice iPod if i wanted to. That lead me to jailbreaking my iPhone. My main purpose for doing this was to unlock the SIM card for international use.

The New York Times has a piece talking about the surprising number of people who stick with high priced cable despite the internet as a viable option. What is surprising to me is how much people pay for their cable. Since I graduateInternet yet to do anything more than basic cable ($10) and for most of that time it has been free lumped with my internet connection. Even now I get a $10 discount on my Internet connection if I have basic. So while the bill is same I do get some live TV from time time.

The New York Times published two articles about the negative trend of test scores associated with wide spread Internet access. The first article has the detailed information. Essentially the studies looked at either areas where the Internet spread and compared test scores, or in the first case looking at a voucher program for low income families to purchase computers. In all of the cases cited test scores dropped, though in some cases only modestly.

We live in a time of change, an intersection of technological advancement and achievement. During such times there is often a tendency for people to take sides. On the one side you have the people embracing the change and on the other you have people clinging to the old ways. Sometimes it is fun to see the two worlds clash and other times it is outright painful.

Wired is reporting on the use of iPhones as instruments (see the video below). This is a really neat idea to me. First it goes beyond just the simple playback of notes. In this concert sounds are actually manipulated through the various sensors of the iPhone. The article notes the various sensors (touchscreen, microphone, compass, accelerometer).

I remember in college fighting over different practice rooms in the fine arts building. This was never a perfect system, in fact, it was downright aweful. Some people would park themselves in a practice room for hours at a time. At other times you would have to fight with brass groups or just that annoying trumpeter practicing the same high note for 2 hours straight. Of course there were coveted rooms. Not necessarily because there was anything all that special, but it varied for the reasons.

Google just announced that they are open sourcing Chrome OS. I've dug through a few things with Chrome, but haven't dug in deep. Mostly because there hasn't been a lot of support for Mac or Linux as of yet. But what I do know is that the browser has been well received. A lot of my friends swear by it, and that includes techies and non-techies alike.